US Helps Dissidents Skirt Blockades With 'Internet In A Suitcase' Project

During the Arab spring this year, governments in Egypt and Syria were able to cut off their citizens from the Internet and mobile phone networks, with the flick of a switch. With dissidents relying on social media sites to organize protests and spread their messages, the U.S. government is financing technologies for them to circumvent these communication black-outs.

The New York times reports that these efforts are helping to create "shadow" Internet and mobile phone networks.

The paper reports that the U.S. government has spent $2 million to help develop the so-called "Internet in a suitcase" project, led by former hackers, who seem more like characters from the "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" than State Department contractors:

In an anonymous office building on L Street in Washington, four unlikely State Department contractors sat around a table. Josh King, sporting multiple ear piercings and a studded leather wristband, taught himself programming while working as a barista. Thomas Gideon was an accomplished hacker. Dan Meredith, a bicycle polo enthusiast, helped companies protect their digital secrets.

The Internet suitcase would use technology that can turn cellphones and personal computers into mini cell towers, allowing users inside a trusted circle to communicate with each other and connect to the world wide web.

The NY Times reports that the Pentagon is also spending $50 to $250 million to develop a shadow cell phone network in Afghanistan, which would keep communication lines open when Taliban forces shut down cell phone networks there.